Now the industry is actively working with the changes it does feel like we need a period where we can all get on with the day job. However, given the nature of regulation (not just in this country but in a European context) I’m afraid to say that this is unlikely to happen.
As has been proved many times, regulators regulate and therefore no sooner have we brought in the MMR than we are looking down the regulatory road towards the EU mortgage directive. These type of directives often feel like a long way off but this one has been in the oven for some time and the anticipation, certainly from the FCA, is that it could be ready to ‘eat’ by the end of this year.
At our recent MMR mortgage and protection roundtable, the FCA were quick to prepare the regulatory ground for those who might think they will be fortunate to now have a prolonged period of the status quo. This is not going to be the case with the regulator specifically not making some MMR changes in anticipation of what is coming from the EU directive.
The KFI in particular was not amended by the MMR because there are some significant rules in the directive which will need to be implemented.
The other point, which was made at our roundtable, is that MMR-related changes are also likely – the FCA is committed to undertaking a post-impact review and this could mean a number of tweaks being made to the new rules.
As far as I’m concerned the sector has nothing to fear from these potential changes but I can also appreciate that implementing them incurs cost and requires significant investment and resource. The good news is that we appear to now have a regulator that is willing to listen and therefore any feedback on consultations is taken note of and can result in some common-sense decisions being made.
However, the simple fact is that we are likely to see more tweaks and changes to mortgage regulation over the next few years and therefore it makes sense to keep abreast of what the FCA is currently doing and its plans for the future.
Bob Hunt is chief executive of Paradigm Mortgage Services
